HAWAII FIVE-0 2.12 ‘Alaheo Pau’ole’

5-0 investigates a kidnapping scam and Chin Ho gets hitched.

by Hilary Rothing Dec 14th, 2011

Episode Title: 'Alaheo Pau'ole'

Writer: Elwood Reid

Director: Jeff T. Thomas

Story:

On the way to Danny's hotel room, Joe White (Terry O'Quinn) tells McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin) he's having trouble getting to the bottom of the Shellburn mystery. McGarrett, White and Danny (Scott Caan) meet with Chin Ho (Daniel Dae Kim) and Kamekona (Taylor Wily) to get fitted for their tuxedos for Chin's wedding. Just then, a call comes in about a body found by a group of boys at the bottom of a lava tube in an old bunker.

On the scene, McGarrett and Dr. Bergman (Masi Oka) find the man in a coma with a wallet that clearly belongs to someone else, a thug named Rafe Tong. Outside 5-0 HQ, McGarrett is confronted by Adam Noshimuri (Ian Anthony Dale). He warns him that if his father isn't released soon, he will go after Joe White.

Danny and McGarrett question Tong at his apartment. He admits to mugging the man found in the lava tube, after he stopped by a bar flashing cash and asking about the whereabouts of a blonde girl. However, the man retaliated and took Tong's wallet, who in turn threw the man's wallet in the trash outside his apartment. After digging around in a dumpster, Tong hands over the victim's wallet to McGarrett and Danny. The victim, Dennis Archer, came to Hawaii with 50k in savings, without telling his wife.

McGarrett talks to Joe White about Noshimuri. He claims to have released the Yakuza kingpin. However, when asked about Shellburn, White goes silent. He tells McGarrett he promised his father he would protect him. On the way out of White's apartment, McGarrett snatches his passport and learns that White was recently in Japan.

While casing Archer's hotel room, Danny, Kono (Grace Park) and McGarrett find a photo of a blonde woman and a young man. Moments later, Captain Fryer (Tom Sizemore) busts in with back-up. He tells 5-0 he's investigating the murder of a Jane Doe, the same woman in the picture Kono found. McGarrett recognizes the girl's grass skirt uniform as the same one worn by waitresses at the Paradise Cove. 5-0 and Fryer decide to work both cases together.

At Paradise Cove, 5-0 questions the manager and learns that the girl is Bridgette Turner. He also recognizes Archer as the man who caused a fight at the Cove recently. McGarrett, Danny and Fryer head over to the apartment Bridgette shared with her boyfriend. There, they find her boyfriend bound and gagged. He tells them a man came in, accused Bridgette of lying to him and took her with him.

Video surveillance footage from the hotel shows Bridgette meeting with Archer, who gave her a briefcase full of money, most likely. At the hospital, 5-0 learns from Archer's wife that the couple's son went missing after a car accident two years ago. She recognizes her son in the picture with Bridgette. However, Weston (Lauren German) suspects the photo is a fake.

After looking through the logs of the website the Archers set up to get tips on their son's whereabouts, 5-0 learns that Bridgette reached out to Dennis Archer with info on his son. She claimed Sean Archer was kidnapped by a surf gang in Hawaii. The gang's leader tells Kono that Paradise Cove employees are scamming tourists.

Weston proves the photo a fake and Chin Ho learns that the emails to Archer came from Bridgette's manager. 5-0 returns to Paradise Cove where Bridgette's manager makes a run for it, however he's quickly taken down by Kono. Once in custody, he tells 5-0 he hatched the scheme when his old cellmate confessed to killing Sean Archer. With a sizable reward offered, he decided to bait the family into handing over money for info on Sean. When Archer got wise to the scam, he shot him.

With the case solved, the 5-0 team attends Chin Ho's wedding to Malia (Reiko Aylesworth). Afterwards, McGarrett finds Joe White and tells him he won't give up until he learns the truth.

Breakdown:

'Alaheo Pau'ole,' which means "Gone Forever," struck me as a bit odd, or at least the opening moments did. What exactly was up with Danny and Weston, handcuffed together in a hotel room? Last time I checked, Weston and McGarrett were making googly eyes at each other. "H50" can be funny, but that scene just felt awkward and out of place. Unless, I missed something here. If so, please advise in the comments,.

"The Jersey Slip" aside, this was a serviceable hour of "Hawaii Five-0," though I wish we'd gotten more on Joe White's shady Japanese connection as we head into the mid-season break. I'm much more interested in the Yakuza in Joe White's trunk than his thoughts on the why cummerbunds are for girly-men.

As for this week's case, it serves as a reminder that Hawaii's tourist traps sometimes have a dark side. It was also enlightening to learn that "surf gangs" exist outside of "Gidget."

A few more observations about 'Alaheo Pau'ole:'

– loved having both Tom Sizemore and Terry O'Quinn in this episode. Capt. Fryer is definitely a loose cannon. I hope the writers are going somewhere fun with this guy.

– "H50" is great at casting/writing scumbag criminals. "The dude was acting all Charlie Bronson!" claimed mugger and self-described "badass" Rafe Tong. I'm not sure who was more despicable: the dead chick's boyfriend broken up over a busted beer mirror or her manager who scammed a grieving father out of 50k.

– According to the official press release, UFC Welterweight, BJ Penn had a minor role as a member of the surf gang but I didn't spot him in this hour. Hopefully, we'll see "The Prodigy" in an episode to come.

– McGarrett speaks Korean and Japanese?!

– Best line of the hour: "That's not very aloha of you."

– Does anyone care about Chin Ho getting married? And how soon before we get the "Malia's been kidnapped!" episode?

– Can't believe the baddie fell for Fryer's "Psycho of the Week" bit!

– Danny going full-on McGarrett by pulling the pin on a live grenade in the hands of bad guy. Awesome!

With this being our last helping of "H50" for a little while, let's take this time to get teary over Chin Ho's nuptials and theorize over what in the hell Joe White was doing in Japan. Here's a hint McGarrrett, it probably involves Yakuza.